Sometimes a conference proceeding will be published after it has been presented. Other times, it may never appear until the research is included in a formal article or book. To further complicate the situation, proceedings may be published as a book, a special journal issue, online, or any mix of these formats. Here are some best practices when looking for the full-text of a conference proceeding:

• Conduct a google search for a website for the conference or from a conference's sponsor. These websites will often tell you if the proceedings have been published. Some even offer abstracts or full-text on the conference website.
• For proceedings published in books, search the catalog for the conference name or the ISBN of the proceeding.
• For proceedings published in a special journal issue, search the e-journal collection and/or the catalog for the name of the journal.
• If you believe a proceeding has been published but is not owned by the Furman Libraries, request a copy from Interlibrary Loan.

Conference papers allow researchers to share and discuss their findings before the work of formal article writing begins. This is one way to find very recent research on a topic. Citations for conference proceedings are included in subject-specific databases and databases created just for proceedings. Using author searching techniques in other databases or Google Scholar can be helpful if trying to find more than a conference work's abstract or related works if the conference work (poster, paper, etc.,) is not available in full-text.  Below are some of the best places to find conference proceedings: